Chat with Greg Fridman

About Chat with Greg Fridman

I'm Greg Fridman, a PhD in Bioengineering and an expert in non-equilibrium plasmas. This channel is a space for direct chats about the things that actually matter: the future of biotech, the fascinating physics of plasmas, and the unfiltered reality of the scientific life. No jargon, no gatekeeping—just the science. Subscribe to join the conversation as we explore how bioengineering is reshaping our world and what it’s really like to work at the edge of discovery.

Publisher

Gregory Fridman

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

20 Feb 2026

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

110 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Can Plasma Stop Metal From Rusting? Yes. It Can Also Make It Rust Faster.

   Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma stop metal from rusting? Yes, in a few ways. But air plasma is a strong oxidizer, so it can also make rust worse. Three parts: plasma as a coating tool, plasma for growing protective layers, and the catch. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: can plasma stop rust? 00:04 Three topics: coating deposition, surface prep, and the catch 00:25 Plasma to stop rust 00:32 Master's days: the lab next door had a plasma thermal spray tool 00:46 His party trick: feed zinc wire into a thermal plasma torch, spray it onto pencils 00:56 No burning, no paint peeling 01:04 Plasma deposits all sorts of protective coatings onto metals. Works like a charm. 01:19 The more interesting approach: grow the protection from the metal itself 01:24 Aluminum, titanium, and other metals in oxygen-containing plasma 01:34 Oxidize aluminum into a thick aluminum oxide (ceramic) layer 01:49 Non-conductive, and it won't rust 01:55 Iron oxide is rust. Aluminum oxide is ceramic. 02:11 The catch: air plasma is a strong oxidizer 02:21 Use air plasma on the wrong metal and you can increase rust 02:28 Story: our "aging box" 02:37 A chamber with a thermal plasma torch on top 02:44 Multiple powder, gas, and liquid feeds 02:52 Simulate high humidity, salt water, high temperature, even sand blasting 03:09 Test materials for aging, not just rusting 03:16 Built for microelectronics aging validation 03:23 Typical aging test: put it in an oven. Ours: heat, humidity, salt, and sand at once. 03:42 Plasma also simulates atmospheric reentry for spacecraft materials 04:01 So can plasma stop rust? No magic. 04:06 Deposit protective coatings, grow protective layers, or age materials to test them If you work in corrosion engineering, surface finishing, aerospace materials, or electronics reliability, this is the map episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Corrosion #ThermalSpray #SurfaceEngineering #MaterialsScience #Aerospace #Reliability

2. 

   10 Oct 2026

   Can Plasma Disinfect Without Damage? Why Bacteria Die and Your Skin Doesn't

   Episode 150. Thanks for sticking with the channel. Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can cold plasma kill bacteria on your skin without burning you? Yes. Three parts: why it stays cool, why bacteria die while your tissue survives, and where the safety limits really are. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: plasma on skin, bacteria die, no burn? 00:16 Three things to cover 00:28 Why plasma stays cool 00:40 Dielectric barrier discharges were bred for very gentle surface treatment 00:45 My master's/PhD lab did a lot of work with Kodak processing photographic film in plasma 00:59 Uniform, close to room temperature by design 01:16 Early experiment: a drop of human blood on a slide, plasma coagulated it 01:24 Lightbulb: this could do wound treatment (coagulate + disinfect in one) 01:34 Starting about 25 years ago 01:47 But who sticks their finger in plasma first? 01:52 I did (as a master's student). Felt nothing. 02:03 Temperature rose about 1°C in 10 minutes of treatment, with very low current 02:34 The sensation experiment 02:39 Three kinds of experiences I've witnessed 02:43 About 1/3 feel nothing 02:51 About 1/3 feel a tingle 02:54 About 1/3 feel very mild warmth 03:05 My theory: nerve ending interaction with the high electric field, not actual heat 03:29 Why it stays cool, really: short-pulsed plasma, designed to 03:41 Why bacteria die 03:48 High local electric fields rupture bacterial cell membranes 04:01 Oxidizers and peroxides degrade bacterial DNA 04:13 Localized UV right at the discharge 04:32 Pressure waves from micro-lightning hits 04:48 Multi-vector attack. Very hard for bacteria to develop resistance. 04:53 We've seen resistance to broad-spectrum UV. We've seen resistance to antibiotics. 05:06 We have not seen bacterial resistance to plasma treatment. Full stop. 05:13 Why tissue survives 05:16 Intact outer skin is dead cells, essentially a dense rubber-like polymer membrane 05:33 Nothing there for oxidizers to kill 05:38 Cells under your skin are much larger than bacteria and already handle oxidative stress 05:48 Plasma treatment actually stimulates them 05:52 Where safety limits kick in: higher doses 06:06 Which is also how we started on cancer: cancer cells divide fast, kill them selectively 06:31 Safety considerations are the most important design element here 06:39 Early-career story: a lab mate asked me to treat her eczema 06:48 I said no. No clinical protocols. I'm not going to experiment on you on a whim. 06:54 That's a hard rule I still keep 07:12 By the way, 15 years later, plasma does work for some cases of eczema (not through me on a whim) 07:25 Recap: plasma kills via multi-vector attack while leaving tissue alone, by design 07:50 Safety limits are the most important engineering constraint in this whole field If you work in clinical plasma medicine, wound care, dermatology, or microbiology, this is the mechanism map episode. 150 episodes in, this one is foundational. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaMedicine #WoundCare #AntimicrobialResistance #Dermatology #Microbiology #PlasmaScience

3. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Can Plasma Cool a Datacenter? LinkedIn Told Me I'm Wrong. I'm Not Convinced.

   Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: in a recent episode I said plasma datacenter cooling isn't practical. LinkedIn picked up on it. Comments, messages, emails, phone call. All telling me I'm wrong. Let me defend my position with specifics. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Recap: I said plasma cooling of server farms won't work 00:15 LinkedIn disagreed. Loudly. 00:30 Let's deconstruct this 00:32 Ion wind: asymmetric electrodes + electric field = wind, no moving parts 00:52 Demonstrated for boundary layer attachment on airplanes and rockets (flight control) 01:13 The problem there was batteries: too heavy, too big 01:26 My running joke: if your question starts with "can plasma," yes 99% of the time 01:32 Can plasma create wind? Yes. Can wind cool a server? Yes. Is it practical? No. 01:48 Problem 1: Open high voltage + dust = ignition risk 02:14 Ball bearing fans don't ignite dust 02:49 Problem 2: Open high voltage safety for service technicians 02:59 Problem 3: Ozone generation in open air (unavoidable unless pure N₂, argon, helium, neon) 03:11 Short pulses and catalysts can reduce it. Not eliminate it. 03:40 Ozone is corrosive to electronic components 03:50 The COVID mask disinfection machine story 04:04 Internal components corroded in 20-30 runs 04:20 Fix: acrylic spray coating. Still failed after a few hundred cycles. 04:35 Ozone affects workers AND corrodes servers 04:51 My claim was never "impossible." My claim was "not practical." 05:01 Problem 4: Heat. Power supply efficiency is never 100%. 05:12 Reflected energy from the discharge dissipates as heat in the power supply 05:25 So your "cooling system" is also making heat 05:30 Reactive species in plasma also relax to light or heat eventually 05:47 Meanwhile ball bearing fans: my 15-20 year old computer still has original fans 06:06 My NAS has been running for more than a decade on original fans 06:17 Clean the dust off, keep going 06:20 Four problems to overcome: ozone, inefficiency, high voltage safety, heat generation 06:36 Prove me wrong. Comments, LinkedIn, email, whatever. I'd love to make this work. 06:43 I have all the engineering components for a DBD ion wind generator in my lab 06:51 I've played with it. I can't figure out how to make it practical for datacenters. If you work in datacenter cooling, ion wind systems, DBD engineering, or you were one of the people telling me I'm wrong on LinkedIn, this is the one. Prove me wrong. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #IonWind #Datacenter #ServerCooling #DBD #Ozone #CoolingTechnology

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